40th Reunion

Today was my 40th high school reunion, in Burbank, CA, but I didn't go. Too many of the people that I would want to see, I already see, or they weren't going. But, coincidentally, my friend Gloria was in town for a family reunion. We called our friend Phil who was in Burbank for the reunion, and we had a mini reunion over the phone. It is so hard to believe that we're that old. It might be easier for Gloria because she has a 37 yr old son. She and I were married just weeks apart in the summer of 1969. We were each other's bridesmaids. I guess we're still kinda cute for old gals, but we'd take our 18 year old bodies back in a heartbeat.

More fun at home!

How old folks celebrate their anniversary. Is this pathetic, or what?Ken asked me where I wanted to go for dinner on our 39th anniversary and I said I just wanted to go up the canyon and have a picnic, so we stopped at Kneaders and got food and drove up Provo Canyon. After we ate we took a short walk by the stream and then set back in our old-people-chairs and watched the other people at the park play. Tiffany and Kyle Larsen have been here visiting for a week or so. It is great to have them back from their year in China.The kids have grown so much and are so cute. Eric is walking and gets into everything and is so handsome. Ellie calls me grandma and we have been playing. One day we made cupcakes. Here she is in her special cooking outfit.The cupcakes were yummy. She put a ton of sprinkles on them.Michelle's other friends, Naomi and Kalista came for a visit. I cooked and it seemed like old times.
Wasn't it just yesterday these girl's were freshmen at BYU?

Hangin'out at home

This morning I am enjoying having my back door open and listening to the birds. Everything smells so good and feels like all is right with the world when I look out my patio door. It hasn't been very hot lately and the mornings are glorious.
The other thing I have been doing is making quilts for my grandkid's room downstairs. I pieced these two quilts and now I have to quilt them by hand because I'm NOT paying $100 to have someone quilt them by machine. It's quite a daunting task, but I'm doing it anyway.
Yesterday I babysat Jenny and Gustavo's twins while they went to the temple. I can't believe how big they are getting. They are darling and they are so good. They are typical twins and can't stand to be apart. Carmen woke up from her nap first and kept going back into their room to see if Karina was awake yet. They learned to climb out of their cribs, so they are in their toddler beds. It is pretty darn cute.

Livin' in Utah

When I got back home to Utah, one of the first things I did was summerize our front porch. This was the latest I've ever done that. All of my travels have kept me from doing my usual things. We like to sit out here on the front porch and look at Mt. Timpanogos. I hope that this porch says, "Y 'all come and set a spell."
I just finished painting my old table and chairs white. They were pink, and I thought that Asher wouldn't want to color at a pink table. This little old table and chairs is one of my favorite things. When I was just going into first grade my parents got them for me. I remember sitting at this table and coloring and even doing homework. I remember sitting there with my friends, and even my cousin Diane from El Paso. They were stained a maple color to go with everything else we had back in the 50's. Then, when Grant was big enough to use them, I painted the table off white to go in his room. I can remember him sitting at the table and working away. Then, when he was too big for them and Michelle was big enough for them, my dad painted them pink to go in her room. Then last February, when Michelle and Blaine came to visit, Kimberley sat with me at this table and colored. Last week I painted them white so that they would go better in the basement family room and so that they would be an okay color for boys. You can see why I love them so much. I have so many sweet memories of them and I have great hope for their future memory-making power.
My project this week is to paint this old desk for the new bedroom decór I am putting in the grandkid's room. It looks a little bit peach in the photo but the paint is more like orange sherbet. (Why isn't it spelled sherbert?)(Just wondering.) This isn't just any old desk, but also is a piece of furniture that has a history for me. It belonged to my grandparents, Fred and Ruth Ray, who lived in Burbank. I remember this desk at their house for as long as I can remember.

After my grandma passed away, I was thrilled to get to keep their desk. Grant used this desk most of his older growing up years. Now I will be using it for the desk/night stand in the basement kid's room. Why orange? Because it is a surprise, and I love surprises. I have fabric to make the quilts but I haven't quite yet decided how to do them. I'm waiting for inspiration.

We've been trying to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend some time in the mountains. A week and a half ago we went on a picnic up American Fork Canyon with the Malones. It is so wonderful to be able to sit on the grass and look at such a view.Two days later we went on another picnic, this time up Provo Canyon. Kristin's family was here from Texas, so we had to share our Utah picnic tradition with them.

We played frisbee for a while and then went on a little hike.

More About Arizona

About half way through my trip to AZ Ken and my mother came down.

Are we the beautiful grandparents or what?

Granddad had fun with Kimberley. Here they are smashing play doh.
Nana loves seeing the kids, too, duh.

Michelle turned 24 while we were there and we went to the restaurant, On The Border.

Gary loves his sister.

Home from Arizona

While I was in AZ, I had my birthday.

Gary and Beth took us to a nice restaurant adjacent to a casino.There was a fountain out in front of the restaurant and Kimberley and I couldn't resist wading.

I'm always ready to get wet whenever possible.Asher is changing every week. He looks so grown up.We lovingly call him our little drool bucket. He either has to wear a bib or we have to change his clothes every 30 min.
Kimberley has her own sense of fashion. This day she was going for the native fire dancer look.
Some days were bad hair days. Hooray for static electricity!
Nana brought her a dress to grow into but on Sunday, she insisted on wearing it no matter how long and big it was on her.

Our happy boy entertains himself with toys and rarely complains.

Kimberley and I did all sorts of fun things. I cut out shapes and she glued them on paper.

This activity was a huge hit.

One day I couldn't resist getting in her pool with her, clothes and all.

Grammy is so silly.

Every time I come I bring finger puppets which we play with nearly every day.

I love my two darling grandchildren so much and I am greatful that I can go see them. It is one of my greatest joys. Michelle is a great mom and I am lucky to have a sweet daughter who is easy to be with.

My trip to Az was wonderful but after three weeks away from Ken and my life, I was glad to get home and try to catch up on all of the things that I have neglected.

I have more pictures which I want to post, but blogger is having trouble just now, so I will return in a day or so and add more.

Greetings from Arizona

I am having fun here in Arizona.
It is too hot to go anywhere, so we mostly just hang out in the house... As you can see Asher is getting very close to crawling.When he finally masters this, Kimberley's life will change greatly.
I don't think she's prepared for what's in store.

Michelle and the kids are doing just great.
But they sure do miss Blaine.

At 2 1/2, Kimberley is growing up fast.
She's nearly potty-trained and can say just about everything.